THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 19, 1995 TAG: 9502190036
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: BASE CLOSINGS:
THE FINAL ROUND
What's at stake for Hampton Roads?
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 189 lines
Three retired and much decorated senior military officers, two career businessmen, two former congressional staff members and one ex-senator are likely to comprise the 1995 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission.
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee questioned nominees for six commission slots last week about possible conflicts of interest that could limit their service. All appear likely to win confirmation, however.
That would leave one seat vacant. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole recommended on Friday that it go to retired Army Maj. Gen. Josue Robles Jr. Clinton is expected to take some time to review that suggestion.
After an earlier recommendation by Dole, Clinton had indicated he would nominate former Army Secretary Michael P.W. Stone, a San Francisco businessman. But Stone's name was not included when the White House forwarded its selections to Capitol Hill; the administration has not explained the reversal.
The commission currently has only one member. Chairman Alan J. Dixon, a former U.S. senator from Illinois, was nominated and confirmed last fall.
Because the law requires the president and Congress to consider recommendations from the base-closing panel as a package, the group is among the most powerful of federal commissions.
The 1995 base-closing commission will have two Californians, reflecting the Golden State's status as the nation's most populous and politically important state. The Navy also will be well-represented, with three veterans of the sea service and two Naval Academy graduates.
The commission will be split evenly between Republicans and Democrats.
Members are are paid a set rate for each day they serve, plus travel expenses.
Here's a look at the nominees:
Alan J. Dixon
Selected by Clinton as commission chairman, Dixon, 67, is a former U.S. senator from Illinois who helped write the base-closing law.
Since his confirmation by the Senate in October, Dixon has rebuilt the commission staff, hiring statistical analysts, a press secretary and other aides. He has promised that the 1995 commission will be accessible to the public and that he or at least one other member will visit every base recommended by the Pentagon for closure.
Dixon, a Democrat, was known in Congress as a moderate skilled at reconciling the varied views of his colleagues. He served two six-year terms in the Senate, and was popular enough among fellow Democrats early in his second term to secure the third-ranking spot in their party leadership.
Dixon also was a strong supporter of the military. He has suggested that defense spending has been trimmed too much but he assured senators last fall that his belief would not keep him from closing unneeded bases.
Dixon is a Navy veteran, having served in 1945-46. A lawyer, he served in the Illinois Legislature and as state treasurer and secretary of state before winning his Senate seat in 1980. He lost it in a 1992 Democratic primary to Carol Moseley-Braun, who capitalized on anger among women voters over Dixon's support for the Supreme Court appointment of Clarence Thomas.
Benjamin F. Montoya
President Clinton's other selection, Montoya, 59, is a retired rear admiral who finished his career in 1989 as the Navy's chief of civil engineering and head of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command.
He is now president of Public Service Co. of New Mexico.
Though Montoya spent much of his Navy career based in California, he said through a spokesman that he traveled extensively and became familiar with bases across the country during the 1970s as the Navy's chief environmental quality officer.
As the Navy's chief civil engineer in the years leading to his retirement, Montoya was heavily involved in building up shore facilities to support the 600-ship fleet that was then planned.
Montoya, a native of Indio, Calif., earned a degree in civil engineering at the Naval Academy in 1958 and returned to school to get a law degree from Georgetown University in 1981. He is a Vietnam veteran and winner of several decorations for his service there.
Al Cornella
Recommended for the commission by South Dakota Sen. Thomas Daschle, the Senate Democratic leader, Cornella, 47, heads Cornella Refrigeration Service, a Rapid City, S.D., firm that specializes in commercial and industrial refrigeration.
He formerly was chairman of a Rapid City Chamber of Commerce committee that lobbied to save Ellsworth Air Force Base from earlier base-closing efforts.
Cornella's nomination is the only one so far to have provoked public criticism. House Republican leader Richard Armey of Texas took aim at the selection last month, telling the Associated Press that ``a parochial advocate should be testifying before the commission, not sitting on it.''
Cornella also is a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam.
Wendi L. Steele
Steele, 32, will be one of two commission members to have worked on a base-closing effort; she was on the staff of the 1991 commission.
A longtime Republican activist, Steele is a former defense aide to Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., and was recommended for this year's BRAC by Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.
Steele said her work for Nickles, including efforts to defend military bases in Oklahoma, should not keep her from fairly considering any recommendations to close bases in the state this year.
But several senators, most pointedly Arizona Republican John McCain, urged her to rethink that position. McCain said she should consider disqualifying herself from any commission deliberations on Oklahoma bases.
Steele also has worked as a lobbyist for two major defense contractors, Rockwell International and Boeing.
According to Pentagon statistics, Boeing was the prime contractor for $1.66 billion in Defense Department business in 1993, the last year for which figures are available.
Only 10 firms did more work for the Pentagon that year. Rockwell ranked 16th on the same list, with contracts totaling $1.32 billion.
Steele held several jobs in the White House during the Reagan administration.
Steele has lived for the past year in Houston, where she is working on a book on political leadership. She is a graduate of Grove City College, where she earned a bachelor's degree with honors in economics.
Rebecca Cox
Cox, 40, is the only member of the 1993 base-closing commission to be reappointed for the 1995 round.
Cox, a vice president of Continental Airlines, served as director of the White House public liaison office during the Reagan Administration. At the same time, she was chairwoman of the administration's Interagency Committee for Women's Business Enterprise.
Before her work at the White House, she was assistant secretary for government affairs at the Department of Transportation and counselor to the secretary of transportation. Cox began her public service career in the U.S. Senate, where she was chief of staff for Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
A Californian, Cox holds a law degree from Catholic University in Washington. She is married to Rep. Christopher Cox, a Republican who represents part of Orange County, a Los Angeles suburb.
She was recommended for the 1995 commission by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
James B. Davis
A retired Air Force general, Davis ended a 35-year military career in 1993 as chief of staff with the NATO's European command. He has been affiliated since then with the Spectrum Group, a Washington lobbying firm whose clients include communities trying to stave off base closures.
Those ties, and the potential for conflicts of interest in Davis' service on the commission, prompted senators to question him closely last week on his continued relationship with Spectrum. Davis initially indicated he would remain associated with the firm but would not take part in any commission work involving its clients; later, he seemed to indicate he would sever all connections with Spectrum.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Davis declined to clarify his answers. He said he wants to do more thinking about whether he can remain with Spectrum while serving on the commission.
A pilot, Davis, 59, has logged more than 4,500 flying hours, including 270 in combat. During the Vietnam War, he flew more than 100 missions over North Vietnam and was highly decorated.
Though his military service was in the Air Force, Davis is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He should be familiar with Air Force facilities, having served at bases in 10 states, plus Washington.
Beginning in June 1980, Davis spent just over two years as deputy chief of staff for personnel at the headquarters of the Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton.
Davis was selected for the 1995 commission by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
S. Lee Kling
A St. Louis businessman, Kling is chairman of the board of Kling Rechter & Co., a merchant banking company. He was chief executive of Landmark Bancshares Corp., a bank holding company, from 1975-91, though he took a year off from that job in 1978 to serve as a counselor on inflation for the Carter administration.
A longtime Democratic Party activist, Kling was treasurer of the Carter-Mondale re-election campaign in 1980 and in 1987-88 served as treasurer for Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Kling is an Army veteran, serving from 1950-52. He left the service as a first lieutenant and was stationed in West Germany.
He was recommended for the commission by Gephardt, now the House minority leader.
Josue Robles Jr.
Though Robles is not yet a formal nominee for the commission, Dole's recommendation makes it likely that Robles will get the spot left vacant when the White House refused to nominate Stone.
The 49-year-old native of Puerto Rico ended a 28-year Army career last July to become a senior vice president of San Antonio-based USAA Financial Services. He holds the title of chief financial officer/corporate controller.
When he retired, Robles was commanding general of Fort Riley, Kan., and of the 1st Infantry Division. From June 1991 until July 1993, he had been the Army's budget director. His tenure there should help him in evaluating the immediate costs associated with closing various bases and the long-term savings the Army could realize by reducing its infrastructure.
Robles' Army service also includes wartime duty during Operation Desert Storm, where he was assistant division commander for support for the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, and in the Vietnam War, where as a lieutenant and captain he commanded artillery batteries. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
KEYWORDS: MILITARY BASES BASE CLOSINGS by CNB